This cruise left MUCH to be desired; Poor Kid's Club Experience

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 19

Review summary

I would sail with Carnival again, however I would not choose the fascination. Very disappointed with the overall appearance of cruise director and hosts, they seemed very frumpy this time around. I've noticed much more care in appearance on other cruises with Carnival. The clothing choices left me wondering who was a crew member and who was not where they were supposed to be. The hosts were in hoodies non-cruiseline issued gear, and even the clothing the assistance cruise directors wore were faded, worn out, and frumpy. They did not give off a professional image. It's not about the clothing, I understand that, it was just that everything just felt like "noone really cared about their job" that was my personal perception of the appearance of the cruise. Even the waiters in the dining room had shirts untucked, and not pressed, they looked wrinkled like they just rolled out of bed and threw a vest over their shirt. I just expected more from cruising standards. Our dining experience wasn't very pleasant. We traveled with 15 people and we all connected our reservations to make sure that we would all have the same dining together, however, respecting they may have to put us at two tables, which they did, however, they put us at two tables SEPERATE from one another, so no dinner socializing could be done, and the way they divided the chairs, one family always had to be divided between two tables so there were never any photographs of that family each night. We asked the Maitre D' if he could just add a couple chairs or if he could trade our table of 6 for the table of 8 next to our family that had only 6 guests and he refused and said he could not. The kids club experience was a nightmare. We travelled with (3) 9 year olds and (1) 8 and 3/4 yr old. (turning 9 in 90 days). We came together from NY and NC and got together n FL for this cruise to bring family & friends together and for the kids to enjoy their cousins for the week, however, they separated my nephew from the rest of the 9 year olds and refused to grant permission to move him up to the group. We asked about moving the 3 kids down to his group, again, they wouldn't budge, yet two other family's with 8 year olds turning 9 in 30 days were allowed to bump and i met a mother of two in camp carnival while making build a bears with my 9 year old that said she bumped her son down with her daughter and said she just told them nothing else was an option. We tried this and the camp carnival director still refused. After 9 pm when we would pay for daycare, they would allow the kids to be together, but before 9pm they said there were rules about putting 8 yr olds with 9 year olds regardless of relativity. It made for very unenjoyable experience feeling bad that one of the 4 kids was upset and taken to a completely different room than the rest of his family, so for the most part, my sister missed out on doing adult things because she kept him with her because he wanted to be with his cousins who were technically the same age. Next my daughter 9 wanted to particpate in kid's club scavenger hunt for 9 - 11 year olds. In order to participate i had to give her permission to sign herself in and out or she couldn't leave the room when the other kids went to go on the scavenger hunt. Hesitant, I granted her permission with the understanding she must be in a group and return with her group. I would also be there to sign her out at the end of each session. Session ended sunday at 12:45 i did lost track of time and saw at 12:47 that i needed to rush up the hall to sign her out. When i got there just two or 3 minutes later, she had been made to sign out and sent on her way because the session had ended. Noone knew were she went so frantically my husband and i started looking for her on each deck, we finally found her in the elevator corridor of the lido deck crying her eyes out and scared because she was lost and couldn't find us, and she had asked the girl in camp carnival if she could call her mom that she didn't know where we were and she was told "no, you'll find her" I marched to guest services to let them know of my disappointment in the staff not for making her sign out because i did give her that permission but because she asked for help and was told no. When i went at 1:00 to the build a bear session the girl who told her no said to my daughter - "oh, i see you found her" and i chimed in "yes, and i'm very disappointed that she would ask you for help in calling me and you would tell her no" and she said "no i didn't" my daughter called her out on it and said "yes you did, you told me no, that i would find her" The girl said "OHHHH I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU LOST YOUR DOLL" Well that was a cover up because when we walked up she said "i see you found her" but my daughter wasn't holding any doll, so she knew fair well that she had screwed up! The hallways on the Main Deck by the elevators smelled very badly of raw sewage, it wasn't pleasant. Wayan our room steward was wonderful and Nego our waiter in the dining room did tend to all our needs while we did not have very good bar service in the dining room as a separate waiter handles that and they just didn't come back. You had to order ice tea or water from a separate server who passed out rolls like a table assistant, but it was confusing who you ask and then you ask and thought you'd ordered your drink but later found you asked the wrong person and apparently they don't pay any attention to requests that aren't their responsibility. Please don't take me wrong. I've traveled with Carnival before and was very pleased, I never asked for anything for compensation - we did make the best of it, and we can say overall we did find ways to enjoy ourselves around all the things that were ticking us off this particular cruise; I just would have thought that a classier approach should have been taken in the appearance of the staff, and in the dining service, and i certainly felt a more responsible approach should have been taken with regards to the kid's club. We're trying a new cruiseline in the fall. Maybe we'll find different standards there. We love cruising either way, but there are standard expectations when you book a cruise, and this one left MUCH to be desired! YesYouMay

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Jacksonville, Florida

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

Nassau, Bahamas

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